Clearinghouse Releases Veteran Needs Report

Approximately 20 million veterans currently live in the United States. While the overall veteran population is expected to decrease, the diversity of the remaining group is expected to increase in the coming years.

The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State has just released Supporting United States Veterans: A review of veteran-focused needs assessments from 2008-2017. The report reviewed veterans needs assessments from the past decade and identified the most common needs to include: mental health, physical health and well-being, employment, housing, transportation, financial literacy, and social support. Identified barriers that decrease access to services include awareness, eligibility, and transportation; delays and excessive paperwork; perceived low quality; concerns regarding stigma and lack of confidentiality; and lack of tailored services tailored to the diverse groups such as women, minorities, students, etc.

Based on these findings, the Clearinghouse offers several recommendations to better support veterans. In addition, it is noted that veterans benefit when their families are supported. To this end, recommendations include focusing on mental health but not at the expense of other issues such as stigma and transportation, aiding with employment and housing, and building a stronger support network with services and community-based groups that provide opportunities for both veterans and their family members.

Finally, the Clearinghouse stresses the importance of providing specialized services for various veteran subgroup needs. These include: providing tailored VA services for women, designating services to help veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups, providing better services for student veterans to help navigate GI Bill benefits, and offering services in rural areas or providing transportation support when options are not widely available.

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This material is the result of a partnership funded by the Department of Defense between the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through a cooperative agreement with Penn State University.